A sad time has befallen our hobby with the passing of Neil Armstrong. I never imagined as a little boy that I would be writing a tribute to him. And these words are not easy either.

Last Saturday night I managed a session with a good mate, both of us sketching the Moon. We never could have imagined what was happening on the other side of the world at the same time. What had been a very productive and happy time turned into a sorrowful one in a few short hours.

From my last sketch, I was determined to focus on the area around either one of the poles. Whatever took my fancy would become my subject. The spectacular crater Moretus caught my eye, and two hours later the sketch below appeared.

What most impressed me was the shadow flooded crater floor with its brilliantly white, massive and tall central peak surrounded by the silent blackness. Careful inspection showed a terraced internal crater wall, highly textured and fractured, as well as very crated too.

The whole scene was very dramatic with the foreshortened lunarscape, long, long shadows, and an impressively long leading edge of singularly illuminated peaks far beyond the terminator proper. By the time the main body of the sketch was done, I just couldn’t finish it without adding the position of the south pole and an extension of the south east limb with the irregular ‘horizon’ of the Moon.

This sketch will forever be a “remember where you were when…?” occasion with the passing of Neil Armstrong.

Neil, every time I look through a telescope, I become an astronaut too…

Attached Files

Wonderful Sketch and Tribute.On The night before Neil Armstrong died I was showing the Moon to interested onlookers at out public viewing night. Two in attendance wanted to see the place on the Moon where the astronauts first landed. I showed them the location where Neil Armstrong set down the Lunar Lander "Eagle" and explained they would not see Tranquility Base unless they were in low lunar orbit.I was surprised and dismayed at his passing the very next day. He was the best of humankind.